diff --git a/HISTORY b/HISTORY
index 68c6e922..39733817 100644
--- a/HISTORY
+++ b/HISTORY
@@ -9663,7 +9663,7 @@ Video Disk Recorder Revision History
 - EXPIRELATENCY now only applies to VPS timers.
 - Deleting expired timers is now triggered immediately after the timers are modified.
 
-2021-05-19:
+2021-05-20:
 
 - Now using a separate fixed value for internal EPG linger time. This fixes problems with
   spawned timers jumping to the next event in case Setup.EPGLinger is very small. (reported
@@ -9683,3 +9683,8 @@ Video Disk Recorder Revision History
   plugin insists in using "using namespace std;" you can still define
   DISABLE_TEMPLATES_COLLIDING_WITH_STL before including any VDR header files.
 - Removed 'register' from libsi/util.c to avoid a warning with  ISO-C++17.
+- The cFile class has been partially deprecated:
+  + The handling of file handles was not thread-safe.
+  + It was only actually used in svdrp.c.
+  + cFile::Ready() now processes only its own file descriptor by calling FileReady()
+    instead of AnyFileReady().
diff --git a/tools.c b/tools.c
index ed0589cb..8267d290 100644
--- a/tools.c
+++ b/tools.c
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
  * See the main source file 'vdr.c' for copyright information and
  * how to reach the author.
  *
- * $Id: tools.c 5.3 2021/01/19 20:38:28 kls Exp $
+ * $Id: tools.c 5.4 2021/05/20 10:13:43 kls Exp $
  */
 
 #include "tools.h"
@@ -1633,8 +1633,10 @@ bool cFileNameList::Load(const char *Directory, bool DirsOnly)
 
 // --- cFile -----------------------------------------------------------------
 
+#if DEPRECATED_CFILE
 bool cFile::files[FD_SETSIZE] = { false };
 int cFile::maxFiles = 0;
+#endif
 
 cFile::cFile(void)
 {
@@ -1659,6 +1661,7 @@ bool cFile::Open(int FileDes)
   if (FileDes >= 0) {
      if (!IsOpen()) {
         f = FileDes;
+#if DEPRECATED_CFILE
         if (f >= 0) {
            if (f < FD_SETSIZE) {
               if (f >= maxFiles)
@@ -1672,27 +1675,31 @@ bool cFile::Open(int FileDes)
            else
               esyslog("ERROR: file descriptor %d is larger than FD_SETSIZE (%d)", f, FD_SETSIZE);
            }
+#endif
         }
      else
         esyslog("ERROR: attempt to re-open file descriptor %d", FileDes);
      }
-  return false;
+  return IsOpen();
 }
 
 void cFile::Close(void)
 {
   if (f >= 0) {
      close(f);
+#if DEPRECATED_CFILE
      files[f] = false;
+#endif
      f = -1;
      }
 }
 
 bool cFile::Ready(bool Wait)
 {
-  return f >= 0 && AnyFileReady(f, Wait ? 1000 : 0);
+  return f >= 0 && FileReady(f, Wait ? 1000 : 0);
 }
 
+#if DEPRECATED_CFILE
 bool cFile::AnyFileReady(int FileDes, int TimeoutMs)
 {
   fd_set set;
@@ -1710,6 +1717,7 @@ bool cFile::AnyFileReady(int FileDes, int TimeoutMs)
   timeout.tv_usec = (TimeoutMs % 1000) * 1000;
   return select(FD_SETSIZE, &set, NULL, NULL, &timeout) > 0 && (FileDes < 0 || FD_ISSET(FileDes, &set));
 }
+#endif
 
 bool cFile::FileReady(int FileDes, int TimeoutMs)
 {
@@ -1726,6 +1734,7 @@ bool cFile::FileReady(int FileDes, int TimeoutMs)
   return select(FD_SETSIZE, &set, NULL, NULL, (TimeoutMs >= 0) ? &timeout : NULL) > 0 && FD_ISSET(FileDes, &set);
 }
 
+#if DEPRECATED_CFILE
 bool cFile::FileReadyForWriting(int FileDes, int TimeoutMs)
 {
   fd_set set;
@@ -1738,6 +1747,7 @@ bool cFile::FileReadyForWriting(int FileDes, int TimeoutMs)
   timeout.tv_usec = TimeoutMs * 1000;
   return select(FD_SETSIZE, NULL, &set, NULL, &timeout) > 0 && FD_ISSET(FileDes, &set);
 }
+#endif
 
 // --- cSafeFile -------------------------------------------------------------
 
diff --git a/tools.h b/tools.h
index 4e88a059..922a342b 100644
--- a/tools.h
+++ b/tools.h
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
  * See the main source file 'vdr.c' for copyright information and
  * how to reach the author.
  *
- * $Id: tools.h 5.4 2021/05/19 11:50:24 kls Exp $
+ * $Id: tools.h 5.5 2021/05/20 10:13:43 kls Exp $
  */
 
 #ifndef __TOOLS_H
@@ -451,10 +451,15 @@ public:
   struct dirent *Next(void);
   };
 
+#ifndef DEPRECATED_CFILE
+#define DEPRECATED_CFILE 0
+#endif
 class cFile {
 private:
+#if DEPRECATED_CFILE
   static bool files[];
   static int maxFiles;
+#endif
   int f;
 public:
   cFile(void);
@@ -465,9 +470,13 @@ public:
   void Close(void);
   bool IsOpen(void) { return f >= 0; }
   bool Ready(bool Wait = true);
+#if DEPRECATED_CFILE
   static bool AnyFileReady(int FileDes = -1, int TimeoutMs = 1000);
+#endif
   static bool FileReady(int FileDes, int TimeoutMs = 1000);
+#if DEPRECATED_CFILE
   static bool FileReadyForWriting(int FileDes, int TimeoutMs = 1000);
+#endif
   };
 
 class cSafeFile {